THE GARDEN STORY

Retail Construction Services, Inc. is dedicated to giving back.

We give back not only to those in need within our community, but also the future generations of this wonderful community. What started out as a great idea has grown exponentially and has become an amazing reality. Here at the RCS Giving Garden, school groups, master gardeners, corporate volunteers, and our own employees work together for the common good of teaching children the art of gardening and the importance of healthy eating. Click Here for Full Story.

From HWY 36 - go south on Lake Elmo Ave, turn left onto 39th Street, garden is at corner of 39th and Laverne. From HWY 5- going west from Stillwater take right onto Laverne (near Fury dealership) garden is on the right at corner of Laverne and 39th street.

The RCS Giving Garden

6/13/11

Stawberries in June - Our 1st 2011 Donation!

We had our first donation for 2011 today! 1.3 lbs of fresh strawberries! It reminds us of the lesson we taught in 2009 to SPIN students in the garden called: "The cost of eating strawberries in October".

Did You Know?

Andean farmers once grew some 4,000 potato varieties, each with its own name, flavor, and use, ranging in size from tiny to gigantic and covering the color spectrum from indigo-purple to red, orange, yellow and white. It use to be that people ate what they grew locally and what was in season. With the increased appetite for produce that was out of season (eating strawberries in October as an example), and the increased demand to ship produce all over the world, farmers had to start breeding varieties that held up in boxcars, trucks, or ship’s cargo. Now, even in the regions of Peru least affected by the modern market, only a few dozen potato varieties are widely grown.

We put as much fossil fuels in our refrigerators as we do our cars?

We consume 400 gallons of oil per year, per person, about 17% of our nation’s energy for agriculture? That includes tractors, tillers, fertilizer, insecticides, drying, packaging, shipping, etc…

But getting the crop from seed to harvest only takes 1/5 of the total fossil fuel used for food.

Each food item in a typical US meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles!

If every US Citizen ate just one meal a week, any meal, composed of locally and organically grown meat or produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels every week.(Animal, Vegetable Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver)